


You’ve Changed

by bwry_writes



Category: Little Nightmares (Video Game)
Genre: Endless fluff, Enemies to Friends, F/M, Fix-it fic, Fluff, Reminiscing over times when they were kids, The Maw, The Pale City, They say sorry to eachother, everything is bittersweet, hand holding, six is still evil, touch of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:35:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29704155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bwry_writes/pseuds/bwry_writes
Summary: Mono’s determined to find Six.After figuring out how to get to the Maw years later, the only question he can ask her is why. Why did she leave him there after everything he did to save her. Taking in her side of the story, however, makes both of them come to realise it’s not all black and white. The cycle always repeats... Not always in ways they’d expect.
Relationships: (mentioned) Mono/Six, The Lady & The Thin Man (Little Nightmares)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 322





	You’ve Changed

He managed to get to the Maw. 

It’d taken years of hard work finding where it resided. But he’d given up trying to save himself now, instead he focused on finding Six again and figuring out why. Why out of all the times they spent together she’d thrown him away like a doll, not even coming back for him after all the times he’d saved her. 

He couldn’t remember much about their time together, all these years later. The nightmares he experienced, however, wouldn’t let him forget everything.

The TV faded from static with a broken crackle as he reached his arms out, feeling along the dusted floor before finding and gripping a tile and crawling the rest of the way through. His skin burnt angry with the radiation, but he’d gotten used to it. Now it became a mere dull ache at the back of his mind. Instead, he focused on his new mission. 

Finding her.

When he looks around he can see he’s situated in an old storage room, wooden and rotting in a prison of old drawings and boxes. The air smells musty as he takes a breath in and starts to make his way across to the rusted door on the other side. He can teleport to her easy enough, but he didn’t know what she looked like. He just knew she was here. 

His feet drag along the floor, reminding him of just how tired he is. It’d taken too much energy. 

Much to his luck, however, the door seemed to crumple like paper under his touch, peeling away from the wall and clinging to it’s hinges like a child. 

That’s when the noise met him. 

His ears rang of static usually, but with the lack of electronics in the area he can clearly hear the screaming. Shouts. Mechanic lions, creaking and roaring above his head as the cogs turned in the ship. There seemed to be an almost constant chatter about the place, which in the light of recent events, seemed to bring a feeling of joy in him. It got too lonely with only mindless zombies as his companions. 

Walking through the groaning halls it didn’t seem real. 

He’s going to meet her. 

Part of him didn’t trust himself to attack her on sight. Afterall, all his hurt and anger from what she did still bubbled over now and again, even after teaching himself to make peace with the situation. But at least they’d meet. 

Finally he stumbled upon an old picture on the wall, torn at the edges and plastered messily with yellow paint. Something about it made him stop. 

A poster. 

Of a women. A hostess by the looks of her garment and geisha-like appearance. The eyes of her mask seem to meet his in an all too familiar glare. It made him sigh. Worth a try, right? It could be her. Six had the same raven hair afterall. 

He heaved in another breath before focusing on every detail. The brown of her dress. The flow of her hair. Each memory of her he could still recollect. The look on her face as she’d let go. 

The ringing in his ears starts again. Louder and louder before the familiar static made its way under his skin. Time seemed to stop as a great burst of crackling energy seemed to almost split his head open right then, white light filling his vision in pure beam. The doctor. The school. Her scream. 

It stopped.

Flickering his eyes open again, the white faded away.

The first thing he can see is the hostess. Which is a relief. Sitting there in front of a wide mirror, mask staring into it in a souless fashion as she fidgets with various makeup and pins on the dressing table, perhaps in thought. 

They seemed to be in a dressing room, or bedroom of sorts. Rich crimson patterned wallpaper surrounding them as well as various cabinets and homely wooden belongings. The smell and sound of the place is sad, however. 

Stale blood and silence. 

Even if it’s not Six, it makes him think. He knew a small bit about the Maw from his research over the years in waiting. A place for residents to eat until their hearts content until they reach their next desitination. A hotel on water practically. But he also knew the rumours surrounding the place. Children hunted for the menu. Guests disappearing mysteriously in the night. The whole place seemed to reak of a silent secret that no ones willing to tell and one he couldn’t help but hold a little curiosity for himself. 

And now, looking at her. He can tell she’s sad too. Everything about her grace ultimately looked grey. The whole place felt grey. 

If she attacks him, he can go back to the TV room, he reasons. The thought comforts him at least. So he tries to find a way of approaching her without startling her, taking a shuffling step forward. 

It’s time to take a risk, he realises. 

“Psst.” 

The women stirs, dropping the hairpin in her hand and letting it clatter along the desk. 

The next moment seemed to happen in a blur. 

One minute she doesn’t know he’s there and the next her face is next to his, staring into his soul. She raises one arm to slash at his face. In shock he closes his eyes in return and teleports behind her, causing her to turn around and try again. 

This time however, he catches her arm as she leans into his face. 

And she stops.

He opens his eyes to see her mask still there, still looming over him. 

It’s only then that she removes his hat. Something which he would have stopped her from doing, if she hadn’t done it so passively. It seemed more like a friendly gesture. Gentle fingers, gripped the rim and set it down beside them on the desk with unprecedented grace. She stares some more after that, looking straight into his eyes before finally speaking. 

“M...Mono?”

The voice is raspy and quiet. He knows that voice too well. 

“Six?” he responds. 

It’s really her. She’s really here. And he doesn’t know how to feel. Part of him wants to stop her right then for what she’s done. Not just to him but to everyone in their journey. But another can’t help but remember everything. Their first meeting in the woods, the laughing and the relief as they ran away from the hunter. Visions of them playing amongst the toys of the hospital come back to him in floods and floods. 

And he doesn’t know when it happened or why but he’s crying. Out of anger or joy, he can’t quite tell. 

What he does feel is part of her brown kimono lifted up to his cheek to wipe the tears, and for once in a long time he feels a sliver of peace. She’s not trying to kill him. 

For awhile it’s silent. Neither of them daring to speak. He doesn’t mind though, because after everything that’s happened they aren’t ripping each other’s throats out. 

Once the floodgates stop however, he asks the important question he needs to know. “Why?” 

She doesn’t move, taking the kimono away. 

He continues. “What I don’t understand is why you left me there. I didn’t do anything uncalled for, or was it your plan all along?” the words are poisoned with anger and malice as his look of wonder turns into sadness. “Tell me. Please.” 

His voice crackles. He hasn’t spoken to anyone in so long, he’s scared he’s forgotten how to. 

She doesn’t respond. 

“There has to be a reason,” he coughs, throat hurting. “Was I only there to help you? Was that it?” 

She shakes her head and walks back over to her dressing table, taking a seat. The wood screeches in pain as she shuffles it along the floor. No words are spoken between them, and he can’t help but feel the anger piled up inside him coming to light. 

Just as he’s about to go up and give her a piece of his mind, however, she speaks up again. 

“It’s because of the music box. And the tower.” 

“What... What do you mean?”

“It... Hurt. Bad.” She snarls. “I was locked in there for years with the only comfort being the box, and you destroyed it, Mono. You put me there in the first place... Just look in the mirror.” 

He does as she says and looks into the mirror then, seeing them both stare back. He knows he’s the thin man. He’s known for a long time. That’s why he didn’t make the same mistake of locking up the next six. He let them both go, what happened to them he knew nothing of. But whatever happens he recognises the cycle is doomed to repeat. 

“Maybe in the previous loop, but I left you alone this time.” 

“Hm,” she says, not quite in agreement or disagreement, tone unreadable. 

She turns around after a few minutes, leaning up and placing a hand on his face, catching him off guard and causing a faint static to appear around him. 

He shies away from the touch initially but carries on looking at the mirror after he realises he’s not in any imminent danger. He could always get away if she tries anything after all, but it looked innocent enough. Her fingers feel harsh tracing the lines of his face, humming a melody as she looks at him with almost a childlike curiosity. 

“You’ve gotten old, Mono.” 

“What did you expect?” he says with a chuckle, unsure whether to laugh or cry. “You probably don’t look all that young under the mask I take it. We all age.” 

She tenses up.

“Can I see under your mask?” he asks, brushing off her hand. “I can’t quite remember your face as I used to. My memories getting worse it appears.” 

She nods albeit slowly, taking her hands and lifting it up. 

Six hadn’t aged too bad. Apart from the ghost white skin, and fresh wrinkles under her eyes and mouth, but nothing too out of the ordinary. It feels like a stab in the back seeing her face again, though. That same malicious look in those muddied eyes seemed to stay on her face even when she’s happy. She knew the worlds a nightmare, so why pretend it’s anything diffrent. He could understand in twisted sort of way. 

“Age has treated you kind, friend.” 

“Are we?” she frowns, scratching her nails along the polish of the desk. “Friends, I mean.”

“In some time loop right now, we are,” he croaks, voice getting more and more hoarse the longer they spoke. 

“I suppose.”

They take a moment then. Looking in the mirror he can almost see their child selves looking back, smiling at the reunion behind their hood and paper bag. He supposes that’s one good thing about growing up for him. He didn’t feel the need to hide his looks anymore. No one was dangerous enough to defeat him now except himself. He doesn’t need to be scared. It’s freeing in a strange way.

“So what do you do in this place?” he asks after a few seconds go by. 

Her delicate nose crinkles at the question, ever so slightly. “I manage and keep the ship afloat. Your suit looks rather smart, what do you do?”

“I walk. Think. Research. Collect objects,” he says, making her smile ever so slightly. “The suit was only a matter of location. I borrowed it from one of the offices in the city.”

“Then the fedora’s apart of your hat collection now I take it?” she says, picking it up gently off the desk and into her hands. “I remember when we went to the school all those years ago and found you that soccer cap. Does that building still stand?” 

Mono frowned. He visited awhile back and had never seen such a textbook ‘Lord of the Flies’ type atmosphere as he did then. The kids running around aimlessly, several beating each other all the while singing that same haunting tune over and over. “I visited a few years back and it’s... spacious. I couldn’t find the teacher, but there’s still a few students hanging around.” 

Six cackles, making him jump. “Grand. I hated that wretched place.” 

“It’s not the best school, I’ll give you that,” he says, crossing his arms and thinking back to when they explored it. “You know something weird?” 

“Mm?”

“I think I had a... What’s the word... feeling about you back then. Although I didn’t really realise what it was at the time.”

“A crush?” She turns to him in discontent, before looking away again with a chuckle and a shake of her head. “You make horrible decisions, Mono.” 

“I know.” 

“I strangled some of the kids for fun. Did that not alarm you? Did none of the horrible things I did phase you?” 

“You alarmed me... But you also made me blind. You were my friend.” He says, staring at her. “You found ways to make me laugh. And laughter was all I had I suppose. Childish but true.” 

“I’m sorry.” Six frowns again then. “I dropped you. I mean it. But saving you wouldn’t have been a much better end.”

He can’t imagine a fate worse than what he went through, but he humoured her for once. “What do you mean?” 

“I’m not that sweet child you remember and I don’t think I ever truly was,” she says, clearing her throat in a dainty gesture. 

“I don’t understand. We all change.” 

She faces away at the words. “If you really want to know what I do here... I eat them,” she says, her eyes holding a dull glint. “Something changed me in that signal tower. It started with small things, then Nomes, then... then... kids. Like you and I were. Then adults at the Maw. And I can’t stop,” she says, face dead as she gazes at the cracks in the mirror. 

He swallows down a thick gulp. He never understood the sadistic side of her, but now he’s starting to wish he noticed it sooner. 

It made sense in a way. All those times she seemed too eager to kill. He assumed it’s because she was angry, but now, looking back it’s clear there were darker things at play. His face can’t help but go a tinge green at the thought of her actively eating people like them. It’s disgusting. He can’t hide his feelings on the topic, but he also understands that it’s not entirely her fault her hunger’s gotten so terrible. 

She turns back to him, tilting her head as if processing his emotions. “That reminds me. You need to leave. I can’t risk hurting you,” she scowls. 

“Can’t I stay a few more minutes?” He dislikes what she does, true. But he couldn’t just leave because of it. 

“...Your still as ambitious as I remember. Or ignorant. One of them. But I suppose a few more minutes will do.”

He nods, kneeling and resting his head against the table. It’d been a long day and he’d forgotten how tired he is. After a minute he vaguely feels one of her hands absentmindedly running through his hair, but all his mind can seem to focus on is what could have happened. What could have happened if they weren’t so entirely messed up.

A vision of them exiting the TV screen together fills him with warmth. In one loop or another it’s going to happen, he’s just disappointed it’s not this one. Why couldn’t it be this one. His eyebrows furrow. They’d lost so much time and now he’d need to go again. 

As if reading his mind, her touch goes from his hair and down to his side. Her fingers brushing against his as their hands interlock in the silence.

He forgot how that felt. 

“I’m sorry I let him grab you. It wasn’t my will,” he says finally. “It should never have happened.” 

“Oi.”

He looks up. 

Only to be greeted with her smirking face. 

The same face he thought about many a time as evil and the cause of all his problems, seems to shine bright in the moment. Her eyes are wide and playful, wrinkles spreading like cracks in old china with her toothy unnaturally wide grin. It’s a form of time travel in itself. He can finally see behind those years of pain and regret, a girl who simply grew up too fast. His friend whom he dearly missed. 

“We were children who held harsh grudges over things we couldn’t properly perceive” she mutters under her breath. “So I’ll forgive you, Mono. One last time.” 

“And I, you, old friend. There’s no point hating one another, when the world already hates us so.”

“True,” she huffs. “But don’t go round calling me old. Call me old one more time and I’ll take back what I said, mind you.”

They share a look before resorting into a fit of giggles and snorts, losing what little shreds of their dignified personas they have left. Two grown adults acting like children again. Maybe they haden’t changed as much as they thought.

It returns to silence after a few minutes, however.

But a different silence. It’s one that he feels in love with now. There’s no more withering hate in their hearts for each other. There’s no more stress of figuring out what happened all those years back. It’s just them in the present. Holding hands so tight as if making up for all the time they’ve lost. 

The familiar sound of the clock tics by but it’s not as lonely as before. It simply tells him that he needs to be quick. 

But he can, after waiting for so long, wait for a small while longer, couldn’t he? There’s nothing to run away from now. No reason to hide. As odd as it is, it’s a nice thought to think for once...

That they’re not so little anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this story please leave a comment or kudo. It really makes my day! Once again, constructive criticism is also appreciated and welcome.
> 
> If you’d like to see more of my works please follow my tumblr: bwry-writes


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